Fairer Scotland Fund Board
Note of meeting held on 10.10.13
Present:
Cllr Barney Crocket
Cllr Jim Noble
Cllr Yvonne Allan
Arthur Forbes
Acky Stewart
Fay Morrison
Jody Reid
Moyra Mair
Nick Bruce
Sylvia Davidson
Jackie Burns
Andy Verreydt
ACC
ACC
ACC
Aberdeen Civic Forum
Regeneration Matters
Regeneration Matters
Regeneration Matters
Regeneration Matters
Regeneration Matters
Regeneration Matters
Regeneration Matters
Police Scotland
Agenda item
Notes
In attendance:
Dave Kilgour
Susan Thoms
Aberdeen City Council
Aberdeen City Council
Action
1. Apologies
Cllr Gordon Graham
Aileen Davidson
Adrian Watson
Linda Smith
Joyce Duncan
Anne Knight
ACC
Regeneration Matters
Police Scotland
NHS Grampian
ACVO
Aberdeen City Council
2. Note of
meeting
17.6.13
Agreed.
3. Matters
arising
Item 5. Yvonne Allan expressed her disappointment at the lack of
support that the Board had shown to the new group involved with the
Old Torry Outdoor Centre. An option was for the group to reapply, but
this was voted against.
Item 4. Arts R Us. Fay explained that she is no longer involved in this
group and it is not being taken forward. There are other arts activities
available so it is no longer required.
Item 5. The section on criminal activities should read ‘reduction in’
rather than ‘improvement’.
4. Financial
update and
The current unallocated funding for 13-14 is £31,957 and the Board
needs to agree how to allocate this.
5. 12-13
underspend
The underspend from 2012-13 was £96,749 and the Community
Planning Partnership has requested that this be reallocated. A report
will go to the Council on 31st October, and if agreed the Board will need
to consider what it should be spent on.
The report to Community Planning Aberdeen (CPA) had recommended
that the funding that had been awarded to Job Parents during 2012-13,
on the basis that it would be repaid to Fairer Scotland Fund, would be
used to continue funding the Job Parents for the remainder of the year.
This has been approved by CPA.
There was some concern that having an underspend in the previous
year might affect future FSF allocations. Cllr Crockett confirmed he did
not anticipate there being any change due to the underspend.
It was suggested that there were projects that are underway at the
moment in regeneration areas which the funding could support. It was
also suggested that applications which had been rejected could be
relooked at and Torry Outdoor Sports Centre could be asked to reapply.
It was acknowledged that there were only 5 months left to spend the
money so capital projects would be more appropriate, to allow spend in
the time available with no financial implications for next year.
Welfare reform is a big issue, it was suggested the funding could be
used to address these. Dave Kilgour suggested that part of the response
to welfare reform could include a suggestion from St Machar Credit
Union to provide school children with £10 in a credit union account, to
prevent future debt/high cost loan issues. There could be an education
programme built around this. For the 3 schools in the regeneration
areas this would cost around £15,000 for all pupils, then the 1st year
pupils could receive the same every year.
It was felt that this was a good idea and something that would have a
long term ongoing effect. The cost would be approximately £19,000 and
this was agreed in principle. Dave will produce a report on this,
including the educational programme.
DK
The issue of food poverty and the increase in demand for food parcels
was also raised. While it was agreed that additional support was
needed for cooking and budgeting, the reality is that children are going
to bed hungry at night.
The white goods shop in Torry, run by NESCU, has recently closed, if this
was a funding issue then they might want some support to cover rental
costs. The shop was part of the Retail Rocks initiative in Torry, which
would have provided rent free premises for a year.
It was agreed there was a need to look at both figures, the funding
remaining for this year, and the underspend from last year, if this is
available, and to consider capital projects and non recurring spend.
It was agreed to meet again after the Council has made its decision, to
look at other ideas.
6. Conflict of
Interest
disclosure
form
Susan had developed a Conflict of Interest form, and guidance on how
to complete it. The draft was agreed and this will be circulated to all
Board members to complete.
7. Annual Report
The Annual Report is complete and once agreed by the Board it will be
printed in colour for distribution. The report involves a lot of work for
the Support Team and the funded projects that provide the information
for it in their monitoring reports. It was agreed that this was a very
good piece of work that reflects the achievements of the FSF and
funded initiatives. Susan and Anne were congratulated on producing
the report.
Cllr Crockett had attended the shmuTrain Graduation ceremony and
felt it was a very moving event that really shows what the project
achieves for the young people involved.
8. AOCB
Jody and Moyra will visit the Police Scotland Campaign Against Violence
initiative, which is a whole systems approach to recovery, with various
agencies involved.
Community Learning and Development are carrying out consultation.
No formal invites have been sent out yet. Some members of the Board
would like to attend.
9.
Date of next meeting: 7th November 6pm